EVER THOUGHT WEDDING BANDS QUOTE A LOT OF MONEY?

£1600 CASE STUDY:

TOTAL WORK TIME = 11 hours 

Divided by 4 band members : £400 

We get asked frequently about the procedure for booking a band, and what happens on the day of the event. As booking a band is a one time only event for most people, it is important that we show exactly what happens on the day and what the musicians do from start to finish. We asked one of our London party bands to provide us a day-in-the-life example of one of their events.

Booking the band

Once you have decided on which act you would like to book, we send you a contract and a deposit invoice. After that, we make sure that the band is contracted and confirm any last minute requirements with you. We put you in touch with the band, so that you can chat about song lists along with any technical requirements you might have.

LONDON CASE STUDY

Client: Sarah and James Hoffham

Event type: London Wedding, Battersea

Band type: Vintage London Swing

Band arrival time: 6:30pm

Band performance time: 7:30pm

Band departure time for the gig:  5:30pm

The band members will make sure that they leave plenty of time spare to depart for the gig. Even if the event is local to them, they don’t leave anything to chance. Sarah and James wanted the band to arrive an hour before the start time to make sure they were all set up in the venue before the evening guests arrived. As most of the band members are in London and Hertfordshire, they all set off allowing for one hour extra.

4:30pm: Loading up the van:

A couple of the band members start to load the van and check off the equipment from around 4:30pm just to make sure everything is there and in good working order. They also make sure that PAT certificates and PLI insurances are present and up to date. There would be nothing worse than finding that a band has turned up with an essential lead missing. They drive to the venue, picking up the drummer on the way. They also buy petrol on the way, and stock up on snacks and drinks just in case none are provided at the venue. (This sometimes happens).

6:30pm:  Arrival at the venue:

They park as near as possible (sometimes it’s in a field or across a big stately home, so our trusty sack barrows come in handy).

They introduce ourselves to the wedding coordinator and client, after which they begin to collect their equipment and take it to the setting up point. It’s pretty rare that anything is running to time on most events, even the most organised ones,  so often they are told to hold off for half an hour to an hour before setting up can begin.

7.30pm: Setting up and preparing to perform:

Once they’ve navigated and negotiated their way through the crowd,  they set up all of the equipment, do a quick sound check, and then everything is ready. Often  we’re asked to wait for the evening guests to arrive before playing, so we put on some background music.

9.30pm: They will do their first hour set and then have a break in between, usually for around an hour. If the client is overrunning by a long time, they can sometimes play all the way through, especially if there’s a curfew of midnight from the venue. (For this particular event, we actually didn’t start performing until 9:30pm, but that is something that happens quite a bit, so we have to just wait around until it suits the client).

10:30pm: Break. They added the ipod music through the PA whilst they went to get some food. The spread was great on this occasion, and the band members were well looked after. The bride and groom cut the cake, followed by the speeches, which delayed the beginning of the second set.

11:15pm:  The second set was played. Quite a lively bunch this time and there were several guests dancing and having a great time.

00:00am: Encores: They finished the last set, and the crowd shouted for more, so they played for about another 15 minutes to finish off.

00:15am:

Live set finished.

There wasn’t a curfew at this venue and they played ipod music after the sets for 45 minutes (for the hardcore dancers of the party!)

1:00am:

Their performance was over, BUT they hadn’t finished. They still had to pack up, track down the person, negotiate the gear through the venue and car park in the dark and get back on the road.

2:00am:

They were heading home. This is where they had to be really careful, especially  the driver, as tiredness after working late hours can be a real problem. We gave it our all on the performance as we really wanted Sarah, James and their friends and family to have a great time, but we were physically drained by that time of night.

03:00am:

Arrived at home. They dropped off the drummer and were nearly done, but they had to get all the equipment out of the van into the guitarist’s hall. This is necessary after every gig, otherwise the risk of theft (and subsequent loss of earnings) is too high. All the band members were finally able to get to bed by

03:45am:

Ready to do it all again the following day for a gig in Reading.